Campaign Leadership

President Leslie Wong

Campaign Chair John Gumas

A MESSAGE FROM

PRESIDENT LESLIE WONG & CAMPAIGN CHAIR JOHN GUMAS

We are proud to lead our students, faculty, alumni and friends in the University’s first-ever comprehensive fundraising campaign, BOLD.Thinking. This campaign provides an opportunity to raise our collective sights and build even more pride in our diploma and in our SF State community. By undertaking this campaign, we’re claiming our rightful place among the Bay Area’s renowned institutions — a world-class university for a world-class city.

The impact of investing in this campaign cannot be overstated. A donation to SF State will quickly and visibly return a hundred-fold in social, intellectual and economic change. Join us now to make this happen.

BOLD.Thinking Campaign Cabinet

John G. Gumas, Chair

B.S. 1984 Marketing
President, Gumas Advertising

John Gumas founded Gumas Advertising in 1984, a full-service firm, encompassing branding, advertising, marketing, and creative strategic vision for promotional development. Today, the award-winning firm serves a host of regional, national and international clients. In addition, Mr. Gumas is the author of the popular book, Marketing Smart. Mr. Gumas is on the boards of many non-profits, including the San Francisco Giants Community Fund, The San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, The Greater San Francisco Advertising Club, The California Geo-Tourism Council and The Elios Society. He has served on the SF State Foundation Board since 2008. He is the immediate past chair of the Foundation and currently serves on its Executive Committee. Mr. Gumas was named 2008 CSU Alumni Advocate of the Year and was inducted into SF State’s Alumni Hall of Fame in 2010. He is married to SF State alumna Janice Gumas, and they have three children.

Sheldon Axler, Ph.D.

Professor of Mathematics, College of Science and Engineering

Sheldon Axler started his tenure at SF State University in 1997 as the chair of the Mathematics Department. He served as Dean of the College of Science & Engineering from 2002 until July 2015 and has remained with the college as a professor of Mathematics. Over the past four decades, Professor Axler has been awarded numerous research grants from the National Science Foundation and awards for his teaching and his writing. In addition, he has published dozens of mathematics papers and several best-selling mathematics textbooks. Professor Axler currently serves on the editorial board of four major mathematics book series and one journal.

Trevor Getz, Ph.D.

Professor, African and World History, College of Liberal & Creative Arts

Trevor R. Getz is Professor of African and World History at San Francisco State University. He has authored or co-authored nine books including African Histories: New Sources and New Techniques for Studying African Pasts, Slavery and Reform in West Africa, and the prize-winning graphic history Abina and the Important Men ​and Abina digital application. He is the series editor for the Oxford University Press African World Histories series and serves on the editorial board of the Journal of West African History. The CEO of his own company — eBuukuu — he has also served as the Chair of the SF State Academic Senate, Co-Chair of the Strategic Planning Coordinating Committee, and a member of the board of the Longmore Foundation and the University Corporation as well as a Veteran Documentary Corps "ally."

Mark Johnson, M.F.A.

Mark Johnson is professor of Art and director of the Fine Arts Gallery at San Francisco State University. Professor Johnson has expertise in several areas of California’s diverse art history and has curated numerous art shows and written books detailing past and present Asian American art. He was educated at Yale University, where he was a personal assistant to Josef Albers, and received his M.F.A. from UC Berkeley. He previously was professor at Humboldt State University and associate dean of Academic Affairs at the San Francisco Art Institute. His publications include Asian American Art: A History, 1850-1970 and AT WORK: The Art of California Labor.

Alex MacBride

Alex MacBride is first vice president of investments at MacBride & Ilina Group, Morgan Stanley, in Palo Alto, California. He is a chartered financial analyst and has been in the financial services sector for more than 30 years. In 1980, he began his investment career at Dean Witter, which was acquired by Morgan Stanley in 1997. Alex MacBride is also an investor in MacBride Office Furniture, LLC, a company that sells new and used office furniture in the San Francisco Bay Area. He and his son founded the company in 2009. Mr. MacBride is a Partner In Gift Planning for the Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital, Stanford. He is married to Christine MacBride, and they have two sons, Cameron, who runs MacBride Office Furniture, and Morgan, who is a litigation associate in the Los Angeles office of Irell & Manella LLP.

Robert J. Nava, J.D., CFRE

Vice President for University Advancement

Robert Nava was appointed vice president for University Advancement in 2010. Prior to joining SF State, Mr. Nava served as associate vice president for Advancement at the University of El Paso Texas. From 1987-2005 Mr. Nava served in various leadership positions at UC Riverside. Mr. Nava also served as an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Chicano Studies at CSU Fullerton. Mr. Nava is a Certified Fundraising Executive and was a member of the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Institute for Management and Leadership.

Neda Nobari

B.S. 1984 Computer Science
President, Neda Nobari Foundation

After more than twenty years as a director and vice chair of bebe stores, Inc.’s board of directors, Ms. Nobari stepped down in 2006. Prior to bebe stores, Inc., she worked in the software industry. Ms. Nobari is the founder and president of the Neda Nobari Foundation, a private foundation established in 2008, which primarily supports organizations associated with the arts, education, the environment, homelessness and poverty. She has served on a number of nonprofit boards such as the Iranian American Women Foundation, International Society for Children with Cancer, Mom's Against Poverty, Golestan Center for Language Immersion and Cultural Education and The Redford Center. She is a generous supporter of SF State where Nobari Hall on the first floor of SF State’s John Paul Leonard Library is named in her honor. Ms. Nobari was a director of the SF State University Foundation from 2009-2010 and the University Corporation 2008-2009. Ms. Nobari relocated to New Hampshire in 2010 to pursue her Master’s in Liberal Studies at Dartmouth College (awarded in June 2015). She returned to the Bay Area in 2014 and rejoined the SF State Foundation Board in June 2015.

David L. Simon

B.A. 1972 Journalism
President, Simon Bros. Media

David Simon began in the broadcast entertainment industry as a program and production executive at television stations in San Francisco, Detroit, Washington D.C. and Los Angeles, and later culminated his studio production career as head of Disney International Television Broadcasting and then as president of DreamWorks Television Animation studio. Mr. Simon has worked on productions for the WB, Proteus, the NFL, Turner Broadcasting, 20th Century Television (Fox), Cinar Entertainment, and Sony International Television, among many others. He is founder and president of Simon Bros. Media, which provides digital content development support and production services, as well as consulting and advisory services for producers and others in the entertainment industry. Mr. Simon has received several awards, including Primetime Emmy Awards and a New York Film Festival Silver Medal. He served as president of the National Association of Television Program Executives as well as on the board of governors of the Television Academy and board of directors of the British Academy of Film & Television Arts, Los Angeles. Mr. Simon serves on the SF State Foundation Board. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Linda.

Learn more about BOLD.Thinking.

BOLD.Thinking.

CAMPAIGN
PRIORITIES

Learn about the focus areas of our campaign to raise $150 million to secure San Francisco State University's place as a world-class univerisity.